"Ahem." Soxart cleared his throat and held out his hand, curling his fingers slightly back and forth. "That'll be 10 copper."
"What? 10 copper?" Garrett asked, feeling thankful that he had taken the money bag benefit from Otris. He reached into his bag and pulled out the pouch, handing Soxart all his copper coins.
"Hey now, be grateful. I'm providing you a huge discount right now." Soxart tucked the copper away into his bag. "I'm only charging you for my service and knowledge. Otherwise, I'd charge you the full 100 Gold for saving someone's life."
"You saved my life?" Vanessa asked, looking over at Garrett. She slowly got down from Plex's arms and stood face-to-face with Garrett.
Garrett looked down at his wounded palm before nodding. "Yes, I guess I formed a pact with you."
Almost immediately, he felt Vanessa throw her arms around his neck. "Oh, thank you so much! I thought I was going to die in that cell." He could feel tears rolling down her cheek. "My previous pactmaker abandoned our pact and was going to let me die in there." She pulled herself away from Garrett and closed her eyes, deep in thought. "But you saved me and formed a pact with me? Why would you do that? You know I'm a demon, right?"
Garrett didn't exactly want to reveal that she was a companion that he had a few timelines ago. "I couldn't just leave you alone to die in that cell, even if you are a demon." He already knew what Vanessa was like before, so it seemed like the only way to go was to continue with the hammy and dramatic nature. "After all, it is a hero's duty to protect as many people as they can, right?"
Vanessa's eyes opened wide, glowing from the reflection of the lantern. "A real genuine hero? Picturesque! Ah, I am in the presence of greatness! Sir Bates, I am honored to be your pact demon." She knelt down before Garrett, smiling at him with her wide grin of sharp teeth.
"Looks like you got yourself quite the demon there," Soxart said, gently reminding them that he was still there. "Try not to let her go that long again next time, huh?"
"Boss," Plex said, also reminding them all that it was there, "I do not mean to ruin this touching moment, but we do still need to find Cerezie. She may still require our assistance."
"Right," Garrett said with a nod before turning to Soxart. "Do you happen to have anything that could help us find our friend?"
"For the right price," Soxart said, widely grinning as he rummaged through his bag. "I've got all sorts of goodies. What are you looking for?"
"Four things." Garrett held up his fingers. "One, something to deal with a cave in. Two, some kind of weapon to take down some of the tough armor on some of the robots. Three, a way to find an elf. Four, perhaps a map of the Darge?"
Sorxart rummaged through his bag before pulling out various gadgets and scrolls of paper onto the table. "You're in luck, pal. I've got some explosive runes, a couple of old maps some adventurers sold me, and a special pair of gloves for piercing."
"Whoa, this is a lot," Garrett said, looking over them before realizing one thing. He felt the absence of coins jingling in that pouch. "Er, right. Um, I don't exactly have any more money on me." Soxart's sly smile transitioned into a frown.
"You mean to tell me that all you carried with you were 10 measly bronze coins?" Soxart said, the disappointment in his voice obvious. He began to put away his inventory when he noticed Garrett's equipment. "Well now, you might not have any coin, but I'd be willing to make a few trades." He eyed up Garrett's ring and spear in particular. "Tell you what. For that ring and that spear, I'll trade you this map of the Darge and these armor-piercing gloves."
Garrett looked down at them, a bit surprised that these are what Soxart was interested in. Not his shield or sword or even the magic bracelet. "Sure, that sounds like a fair trade." He took off the ring and handed it and the spear over to Soxart. Soxart put a scroll and a pair of gloves onto the table, which Garrett took. Garrett put the scroll in his backpack and slipped the gloves on.
"Pleasure doing business," Soxart said, looking towards the other two. "Anything I can sell you two?"
"I sadly have no form of coin, nor anything worth to trade you," Plex said. If it had a more expressive face, it would be looking sad right now.
"And I do not require anything right now," Vanessa said, her energy levels starting to return to how she was in the previous timeline. "Thanks for the offer."
"Then, I'll be on my way." Soxart hopped off his bag and put away the lantern and table. He was about to head off into the darkness when Garrett called out to him.
"Wait, don't you want to come with us?" Garrett asked. This was the first time that someone he met who wasn't trying to kill him didn't want to accompany him.
"Nah, I've got stuff to do and places to be," Soxart said as he continued to walk into the darkness. "Good luck finding your friend. Maybe I'll see you around." With that, he vanished into the dark hallway.
"Well, that provided us with a bit of useful things," Garrett said, looking at how the gloves fit snugly on his hands. "Now I should be able to damage the robots a bit better, but we still don't have a way to deal with the cave in."
"That goblin guy said he gave us a map, right?" Vanessa said, reaching into Garrett's bag. "Maybe there's another way around this path you two are talking about?" The three of them tried to look at the map, but Plex's blue light hid the blue ink on the parchment. "Well, this isn't going to work."
"Okay, let's head back into the tunnels for clearer light."
The three of them nodded and headed back through the surgery room and into the jail cell area. With the light of the large crystal, they looked at the map in dismay. The path that Cerezie had taken was the only one that led further down into the Darge. All others lead back around to each other, like the one Garrett had taken, or outside. Thankfully, according to the map, there were only a few more rooms until what was presumably the deepest the Darge went.
"Looks like that path was the only way to get to Cerezie. We'll have to find some way to get through that cave-in," Garrett said as he put the map away.
"A cave-in?" Vanessa said as she closed her eyes to think. "Picturesque! I've got it! Let's just hope it's still here." Vanessa rushed off to the jail cell that she was held captive in and began searching around. She looked around on her hands and knees until she found what she was looking for. "Got it! It's still here!" She returned to Garrett and Plex and held up a paintbrush, but the tip of it was covered in strange paint that seemed to reflect all colors. "I can get us through that cave-in, no problem."